How would I react, I wonder, if You pointed to a basin of water and asked me to wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman, day after day, month after month, in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?
This was typed on a paper, stuck on the wall directly in front of Anita’s computer, so every time she would look up, this is what she would see. Many a time I read this in her office and spent some time meditating on it, trying to wrap my mind around it. I think it’s not a simple concept. The question: would you do something very unpleasant to serve another human being if no one but God knew you were doing it?
Certainly by answering “yes” we are dedicating ourselves to selflessness, giving to others and serving God through serving mankind. I strive to be a giving, compassionate and humble person but this seems to go even farther to say: what if you had to do something very unappealing? It’s easier to be gviing on your own terms, but those are not always God’s terms.
Whenever I read this, I was reminded of that 90s song “One of Us” by Joan Osborne. The crux of the song is how would you act if you knew God was one of the random people you bump into every day? If you knew that potentially, someone you would meet would be God, would you act differently to everyone?
I don’t know where Anita found this passage, but with some research I found it was part of a larger poem written by a Christian author Ruth Harms Calkin. Here is the whole thing.
You know Lord how I serve You,
with great emotional fervor,
in the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You,
at a women’s club.
You know how I effervesce when I promote
a fellowship group.
You know my genuine enthusiasm
at a Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder,
if You pointed to a basin of water,
and asked me to wash the calloused feet
of a bent and wrinkled old woman,
day after day, month after month,
in a room where nobody saw,
and nobody knew?
